Bryan Murray crossed one item off his "To Do List" yesterday with the signing of prospect defenceman Erik Karlsson, the Senators' first-round pick in last year's draft.

Now the Senators GM is turning toward more pressing matters: Finding another couple of forwards, including one who can play on the first two lines.

A third-line guy could be winger Chris Neil, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, but Murray has pretty much run out of hope he can get the tough winger, who turns 30 next month, in the fold and avoid him hitting the market.

"It sounds that way," Murray said from Switzerland, where he's attending the world championship. "We haven't talked for a while. They're asking for a little less, but not much, and I moved (up), but not much. We'll probably talk again.

"Finding a top-six forward is what the agenda is now. We'll probably have to wait until July 1 and find out who's interested in coming our way and what the cost would be."

Barring a trade, Murray doesn't have room to do anything more on the blue line. Karlsson's signing to an entry-level deal yesterday brings to eight the number of defencemen under contract for next season (Chris Phillips, Filip Kuba, Jason Smith, Anton Volchenkov, Alexandre Picard, Brian Lee and Chris Campoli) and that doesn't include Christoph Schubert, who played most of last season up front, or Brendan Bell, who will be a restricted free agent July 1.

Whether Karlsson, the 15th pick in the draft last summer, fits into the mix at the NHL level is a big question mark.

Size is an issue for Karlsson. He's listed at 5-foot-11 and 165 lbs. and both are exaggerations.

"His head and hands are terrific, but the question is can he handle the every day traffic in the NHL?" wondered Murray.

Karlsson, who turns 19 next month, completed his second season with the Frolunda HC Indians of the Swedish elite league with five goals and five assists in 45 games. He left a good impression on Senators fans who saw him at the world junior championship here in December and January. He was selected the tournament's top defenceman and tied for the lead in defencemen scoring with two goals and seven assists in six games.

He seems to have carried that momentum over to the rest of the season with Frolunda.

Murray said he spoke to Sweden's national team coach, Bengt Gustafsson, who said Karlsson played well in the last couple of months of the Indians' season.

"Based on that, I think there's a good chance (he could play in the NHL next season)," said Murray. "Certainly, he'll address a need for us if he can play right away."

Karlsson said he won't know if he can make the NHL club until he gets some first-hand experience against NHL competition.

WORKING HARD

"It's a hard question to answer. I'll go over there and do the best I can ... if it's not enough, I'll have to improve somewhere else," he said. "That decision will have to be made, what Ottawa thinks is best for me and what I think is best for me."

He said he's been working hard since the Indians' season ended.

"Right now, I'm doing everything I can to get bigger and stronger and improve my development. I've added a few pounds, but I can't say how many. I'm a lot stronger now. The coach I train with said I'm getting stronger every day since the end of the season," said Karlsson.

Murray said the deal with Karlsson allows the Senators to put him in the AHL or send him back to Sweden if he doesn't make the NHL club.

Karlsson will be here in July for the Senators' rookie development camp and a collective decision will be made on where to proceed from there. There's a chance he could stay here and continue to work and train with Senators staff until training camp.